Jony Ive, who is a senior vp design at Apple, thought the new lightsaber design could be 'more analog and more primitive.'
- Feb 17, 2015
AceShowbiz - Apple designer Jony Ive may have influenced the new lightsaber design. As revealed in the teaser of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", the new design sees the lightsaber sporting a cross guard and looks similar to a burning crucifix. In a New Yorker profile of the designer, Ive talks about his contribution to the design. Director J.J. Abrams once said that Ive shared "very specific" suggestions regarding the lightsaber, but the designer says "it was just a conversation."
Back then, Ive spoke with Abrams and discussed the idea during a party. "I thought it would be interesting if it were less precise, and just a little bit more spitty," he explains, adding that the new design could be "more analog and more primitive, and I think, in that way, somehow more ominous."
The new lightsaber design was highly talked among fans following the release of the highly-anticipated movie's teaser trailer last November. Abrams himself addressed the controversy in an interview with Collider earlier this month.
"I will say that what's been funny is, since the lightsaber's come out, I cannot tell you how many contradictory emails I have received from people who have both defended it with unbelievably detailed graphics... I've gotten things that are nuts, and I've gotten people who've shown how it'll kill you and how it doesn't make any sense. It's been the funniest thing to see the arguments that have developed over this thing," the filmmaker said.
"It was a number of conversations [that led to the design]. It was a sketch that became a whole thing and, you know, this was not done without a lot of conversation and it's fun to see people have the conversation that we had, but in reverse," he continued.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is set for release in the U.S. on December 18.
